The Pyx

In Montreal, a woman named Elizabeth Lucy, Karen Black, falls to her death from a tenement building. Police arrive and find a crucifix and a small metal pyx gripped in her hand. Widowed detective Sergeant Jim Henderson, Christopher Plummer, is assigned to the case, and soon learns that Elizabeth was a heroin-addicted prostitute. Henderson determines that the apartment she leapt from was unoccupied, and that the building also serves as a brothel operation. Leading up to her death, Elizabeth, a lapsed Catholic, was struggling to get her life in order.

Henderson interviews Meg Latimer, the madam of the brothel where Elizabeth was sometimes employed. Meg tells him that Elizabeth frequently worked outside the brothel against Meg’s wishes, who felt it was unsafe. Upon returning to re-question Meg at the brothel the following day, Henderson finds both her and one of her employees dead, their throats slashed. He subsequently interviews the building superintendent and shows him Elizabeth’s crucifix, but he refuses to speak. Later, Henderson meets with Elizabeth’s gay roommate and close friend, Jimmy, Terry Haig, who recalls his friendship with Elizabeth, whom he says was one of the few people in his life to treat him with benevolence and compassion. Jimmy recalls that Elizabeth had acted erratically the day of her death, making oblique references to a new, rich client. Henderson escorts Jimmy back to the apartment he shared with Elizabeth, but the two are ambushed by an unseen assailant who shoots Jimmy to death. A shootout follows between police and the assailant, who hides out on a docked boat.

Henderson pieces together Elizabeth’s final weeks leading up to her death: After visiting Sandra, a teenaged fellow heroin addict who is detoxing in the hospital, Elizabeth was phoned by Meg, who informed her she had given several “special” clients Elizabeth’s contact information. Elizabeth met with one of the men, Keerson, a mysterious French-Canadian man who owns the building in which Meg’s brothel is located. Elizabeth presumed their first meeting would be a sexual transaction, but instead Keerson merely had her disrobe and tell him her life story. Elizabeth grew paranoid after finding herself being followed by Keerson’s associates, but Meg dissuaded her fears. On the night of her death, Elizabeth arrived at the brothel for the planned “festivities” for which Meg has promised a large payoff. There, Meg drugged Elizabeth’s drink. Shortly after, Keerson—in fact a Roman Catholic priest—and other elite occultists arrived to hold a Black Mass.

Before the other occultists, Keerson offered Elizabeth a desecrated host from a pyx. Elizabeth took the host, but moments later threw herself from the window to her death before the ritual could be completed.

Henderson, having obtained Keerson’s name from Jimmy before his death, traces Keerson to his parish, and becomes convinced he is responsible for Elizabeth’s death. Upon Henderson’s arrival, Keerson admits to having forsaken his faith for Satan and performed the Black Mass that culminated in Elizabeth’s death. Keerson further reveals intimate knowledge about Henderson—apparently received telepathically—such as that Henderson was relieved when his wife died in a car accident. When Keerson implies that he is possessed by Satan himself, Henderson shoots him multiple times. > You have set me free.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:47